'Twas a dark and chilly night...Glow 5k race recap

'Twas a dark and chilly night for our first race in the dark.  We found the Glow 5k on Active.com and thought it sounded like a lot of fun.  The Glow 5k was a fundraiser for restoration in Haiti, and it always feels good to help out a good cause.  It was a very Chilly night,  perfect for testing out our Winter running gear.
This was the first race I ever waited until the race to register. Only down side to waiting until the day of, is there is no guarantee of a race shirt.  We (Sindi, Mom, and I) did get one, but we were told we wouldn't.  This was a very small race, put on by a church.  Before the race started they prayed over the event, perhaps that is why I did so well.

It was 38 degrees by the end of the race, I forgot to check before the race.  We all wore different types of winter running gear.  I wore a pair of Under Armour winter running tights, a C9 by Champion, fleece lined tech shirt, a C9 half zip hooded fleece lined shirt, and a C9 wind jacket.  I also had my C9 gloves, which aren't very warm and my Under Armour headband, which fits perfectly and keeps the wind off of my ears. I recommend all of these pieces, except for the gloves.
The race was in Woodhaven, Michigan on a track. There were only about 160 racers, but that makes for a crowded track.  At the start of the race it was dusk and all of the glow necklaces looked really cool.  We had decided before hand that we were going to do 45/15 intervals, and only mom set her runkeep app.  It was so congested we ran the entire first mile without walking. My endurance is really improving.  Sindi and I lost mom somewhere in that first mile.  We stuck together and she really pushed me.  We didn't have runkeeper to notify us of when to walk or run so we only walked when we felt like we really needed it, or when my shoe came untied or when I lost my glove in the dark.  My knee was killing me because there were some pretty steep inclines, it is a good thing I wasn't alone, because I would have walked.  Without runkeeper we didn't know how far we had gone or our pace so we really had no idea how we were doing.  We passed the race clock on our way to run another lap on the track and we were pretty sure we were making good time.  Somewhere around the half way mark we got really hot!  We layered our clothes so we thought it would be easy to take off a layer if needed.  Well, Sindi found out the hard way that once your race bib is attached to the outside layer, you are kind of stuck.  Getting a spibelt with the race bibs clips may come in handy for shedding layers during a race. http://www.spibelt.com/products/specialty-spibelt/spibelt-endurance-series
The last lap was the hardest on my knee, I even told Sindi to go without me.  But then I remembered how great our time seemed when we passed the clock and I had to push myself.  I remember saying to Sindi, "I wish the finish line adrenaline rush would hit me right about now".  We came around the bend and the rush hit me as I saw the race clock say 33 something.  I forgot all about my knee as I sprinted all out for the finish line, a finish of  34:15, my fastest 5k time ever!  That is almost 6 minutes faster than my first race finish and nearly 3 minutes faster than my last PR.  This was race clock time, because this wasn't a chipped race. So in reality our time was faster since the clock starts when the first person crosses the start line, and we were near the back of the pack.
I love getting new PRs, but I also like learning new things with each race. I learned that for a race I don't need to dress as warm as I do for a training run.  I learned that if I want a race shirt, I must pre register. And I am learning to push my body harder than ever with each race and I will even live to tell about it.